We have sexism, racism, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, nationalism, fascism, and reentryism. It’s time to bring the isms down, and the World Series of Poker (WSOP) is playing its part.
The folks behind the most iconic poker brand in the world have released another flurry of events. As it did the last time a piece of electronic paper appeared on my Gmail account amid adverts for Harry’s Razors and Barefoot Writers, an all-out attack on reentryism is the headline.
The WSOP has added 17 more eggs to the basket, and 12 of them belong to a genre named ‘The Freezeout Series” priced between $500 and $5,000. According to the press release, more than 40-events afford you a single shot. I have no idea why the moon looks bigger here in LA than it does in the UK, but I know the WSOP wouldn’t be making this decision if it were bad for business.
Mystery Bounty
One of those freezeout events is the $1,500 buy-in Mystery Bounty No-Limit Hold ’em.
On Sunday, June 28 at 11 am, competitors in this event will begin with a 50,000 starting stack and a bounty. After elimination, they hand that bounty to the player who sent them crashing into the rail.
In a standard bounty competition, each player knows the amount of the bounty, and in this event, that amount is $100. However, like a baseball game – there is a catch.
One hundred people will hold a mystery bounty; only they are not aware of this. Once registration ends, players who have won a bounty (eliminated or still in the competition), can jump on the stage, waltz over to the ‘redemption area’, and spin a randomised wheel to see how much they’ve won.
And get this.
There are 80 bounties worth $2,500, ten worth $10,000, six worth $25,000, three worth $100,000, and one worth $250,000.
That’s $1m, folks.
The Super High Roller
If you do win the $250,000, and find yourself standing there like Eve holding a palm leaf wondering what to do with it, then the WSOP has an answer for you.
For the first time in WSOP history, there is an event pitched at the $250,000 price point. It takes place on June 27 at noon and will be a three-day event.
The WSOP has confirmed that there will not be a $1m buy-in Big One for One Drop this year, and so this represents the wealthiest buy-in of the festival, and it’s history (outside of the One Drop).
$25k News
The high roller action doesn’t end there.
A few press releases ago, the WSOP stuck the knife into the back of the $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold ’em Championship.
Now, we know why.
In 2020, there will be a $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold ’em event capped at 64-players. Entry is on a first-come, first-served basis, and it will be one of the earliest games on the calendar, scheduled for a 6 pm start on May 31.
There is also a $25,000 No-Limit Hold ’em event slated for May 29, and a $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha on July 7.
Next up, the WSOP.com Online Gold Bracelet Schedule, and then that’s a wrap for the 51st Annual WSOP.
The New Events
May 27 – $1,000 NLHE Freezeout May 29 – $25,000 NLHE May 31 – $25,000 NLHE Heads-Up Jun 4- $1,500 NLHE Freezeout Jun 7 – $1,000 FortyStack NLHE Jun 11 – $2,500 NLHE Freezeout Jun 15 – $500 NLHE Freezeout Jun 18 – $3,000 NLHE Freezeout Jun 19 – $2,500 9-Game Mix Jun 21 – $5,000 NLHE Freezeout Jun 27 – $250,000 NLHE Freezeout Jun 28 – $1,500 Mystery Bounty NLHE Jul 6 – $5,000 Mixed NLHE/PLO Jul 7 – $50,000 PLO Jul 9 – $1,500 Fifty-Stack NLHE Jul 12 – $800 NLHE DeepStack Jul 13 – $1,000 Super-Turbo NLHE
It’s blown over now, but a month ago, there was a little storm blowing up in our Twitter snow globe, after Daniel Negreanu declared his intention to boycott re-entry events. After a few strums of his guitar, Kid Poker decided it was -EV to stick to his guns, but his points about the value of re-entry tournaments pressed on, as did the rebuttals.
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) heard those jungle drums.
The last time the WSOP went to press on the 2020 schedule, it was to notify us of the $10,000 Championship events and associated leaderboard. Today, we get to see the glossy cover of the other bookend, and once again, Negreanu and his supporters will be pleased.
Between May 26 and July 15, the WSOP will schedule a $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Freezeout, including the first event of the series, beginning at 11 am on Wednesday, May 27.
The new events bring the total of the $1,000 buy-in or below pricepoints to 25, and all but one of utilises the Freezeout format, or allow single re-entry or single re-entry per flight stipulations. The only event cobbled in that batch of 25 is the Little One for One Drop, which maintains the re-entry clause to raise more money for Guy Laliberte’s charity.
The red cape holders have called these events the ‘Value Menu,’ and explain that it’s a “concerted effort by the WSOP in 2020,” to offer low buy-in live tournaments. Stats show the bulls will stampede. It’s a nice compromise given how lucrative multiple re-entry events are for tournament organisers.
WSOP Vice-President, Jack Effel, said these events are crucial to meeting the mandate of attracting new players to the series, and if that’s the case then it’s a win, win, win, win, win.
“The WSOP is committed to keeping a significant portion of the schedule utilising the freezeout format.”
Of the 25 events with a $1k or lower buy-in, 15 were previously unreleased, and with the WSOP Online events still to come, you can guarantee that we will see even more games of a low buy-in nature.
We wait with bated breath on news of the $25k+ events, including the confirmation, or not, of the $1m Big One for One Drop.
Here is the ‘Value Menu.’
May 27 – $1,000 NLHE Freezeout
May 27 – $500 NLHE Casino Employee
May 28-31 – $500 NLHE BIG 50
Jun 1 – $600 NLHE DeepStack
Jun 2 – $1,000 NLHE Super Turbo Bounty
Jun 7 – $1,000 NLHE Forty-Stack
Jun 8 – $600 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) DeepStack
Jun 10 – $1,000 PLO 8-Handed
Jun 14 – $800 NLHE DeepStack
Jun 15 – $500 NLHE Freezeout
Jun 16 – $600 Mixed NLHE/PLO
Jun 17 – $1,000 Ladies NLHE
Jun 18 – $1,000 Seniors NLHE Championship
Jun 19-20 – $1,000 NLHE Double-Stack
Jun 21 – $800 NLHE DeepStack
Jun 22 – $1,000 Super Seniors NLHE
Jun 22 – $1000/Team Tag Team NLHE
Jun 23 – $600 NLHE DeepStack Championship
Jun 24-25 – $400 NLHE COLOSSUS
Jun 26-27 – $888 NLHE Crazy Eights
Jun 29 – $1,000 Mini Main Event
Jun 30 – $500 FINAL 500 Salute to Warriors NLHE
Jul 4-6 – $1,1111 NLHE Little One for One Drop
Jul 12 – $800 NLHE DeepStack
Jul 13 – $1,000 NLHE Super Turbo
The script for the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) still has an echo, but it’s diminishing in volume. The first announcement came before Christmas with a dozen glitz and glamour events creating a solid foundation, and now it’s time to add something more substantial.
Over the years, the $10,000 buy-in WSOP Championship events have become some of the most decadent desserts in this recipe book, and high Rollers feast on them like insomniac-ridden locusts,
Sixteen $10,000 Championship events spanning 24 variants of poker ensures not a superfluous song exists amongst this scintillating symphony. Daniel Negreanu will be pleased to know that the format of 15 of the 17 events is ‘Freezeout,’ with a single re-entry during the open registration period available for the Short-Deck and No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw events.
Kajagoogoo once sang:
“You’re too shy, shy, hush-hush, eye to eye.”
If that’s you, then you’re in luck.
For the first time in WSOP history, there is a $10,000 WSOP Championship No-Limit Hold ’em event available online at WSOP.com, meaning you don’t have to leave the front door to win a sliver of gold. And don’t think for one minute that you’re looking at the vanishing point. I can see $25,000 High Roller online events filling the pages of this recipe book before too long.
Speaking of $25,000+ events, and so far the WSOP has kept their powder dry except for the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship (PPC). The game most pros believe is the most illustrious outside of the WSOP Main Event begins on Monday, June 22.
The 5-day, 6-handed event, with 100-minute levels undergoes a splash of paintwork with the addition of No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw taking the number of games up to nine.
The History of the PPC
2006: David ‘Chip’ Reese beats 143-entrants ($1,716,000) 2007: Freddy Deeb beats 148-entrants ($2,276,832) 2008: Scotty Nguyen beats 148-entrants ($1,989,120) 2009: David Bach beats 95-entrants (1m276,802) 2010: Michael Mizrachi beats 116-entrants ($1,559,046) 2011: Brian Rast beats 128-entrants ($1,720,328) 2012: Michael Mizrachi beats 108-entrants ($1,451,527) 2013: Matthew Ashton beats 132-entrants ($1,774,089) 2014: John Hennigan beats 102-entrants ($1,517,767) 2015: Mike Gorodinsky beats 84-entrants ($1,270,086) 2016: Brian Rast beats 91-entrants ($1,296,097) 2017: Elior Sion beats 100-entrants ($1,395,767) 2018: Michael Mizrachi beats 87-entrants ($1,239,126) 2019: Phil Hui beats 74-entrants ($1,099,311)
The one omission from the schedule is the $10,000 No-Limit Hold ’em Heads-Up Championship. We reached out to the WSOP for comment, and Seth Palansky, Vice-President, Corporate Communications for Caesars Interactive Entertainment Inc., sais:
“We are still putting the pieces together for rest of schedule. I do anticipate us having a Heads Up event in 2020, it just won’t be at the $10k buy in amount it has been in recent years.”
WSOP Championship Leaderboard
During the debacle of the 2019 WSOP Player of the Year (PoY) award, where Daniel Negreanu won his third title, before seeing it handed to Robert Campbell through a points tally error, someone in the poker Twitter universe suggested a WSOP Championship Leaderboard.
Well, it’s happening.
We don’t have any details yet, but we’ll bring them to you when they arrive on our desk.
The
World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) has always leaned more towards the elite.
When the event called London ‘home’ the use of the £ versus the $ created a
price hike, with a smaller curriculum geared towards to the grinders.
The
location may have changed, but the modus operandi remains the same, if not even
more accentuated.
From 13
October through to the 4 November, fans of the WSOPE can stakeout the King’s
Resort in Rozvadov as Leon Tsoukernik continues his relationship with the most
iconic brand in poker.
Last
week (I know, I know, I am slow), the WSOP and King’s Resort announced plans to
add another four events to the festival. What initially began as an 11-event
festival is now 15, and two of the four new games hit the To-Do Lists of the
types of people who park fancy sportscars in their garages.
The
most violent of the announcements is the addition of a €250,000, €5m GTD Super
High Roller. The original schedule had a €25,500, €1m GTD No-Limit Hold’em
Platinum High Roller, and a €100,000, €5m GTD No-Limit Hold’em Diamond High
Roller. It seems we’ve run out of gemstone superlatives. A €25,000, €1m GTD
Mixed Game Championships will join the €25,500, €2.5m GTD Short-Deck High
Roller. For the people with slightly smaller bankrolls, there will be a €2,500
Short-Deck, and a €2,500 8-Game, both with €250,000 guarantees.
Head
over to the PokerNews website for the full schedule because I can’t be arsed
retyping it.
WSOP
Vice President, Jack Effel, said the 50th Annual WSOP was so successful they
felt they had to take another look at the WSOPE schedule. They did, and thought
they could ‘enhance it.’
WSOPE High Roller History
The
first time the WSOPE held an event with a buy-in greater than €10,000, was in
2012. The €51,000 No-Limit Hold’em Majestic Roller took place in Cannes. Much
to the annoyance of Michael Watson, who beat 60-entrants to win the €1m first
prize, the event was a non-bracelet affair.
The
first WSOPE bracelet in a €10k+ event arrived the following year when Daniel
Negreanu beat 80-entrants to win the €25,600 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller for
€725,000. The game was significant because the win saw Kid Poker beat Matt
Ashton in the race for the WSOP Player of the Year award in the very last
game.
There
was no WSOPE in 2014, but when it returned in 2015, the €25,600 No-Limit
Hold’em came with it. Jonathan Duhamel defeated 64-entrants to win the €554,395
first prize in Berlin.
Then in
Rozavadov in 2017, we had two high stakes events.
Niall
Farrell joined the Triple Crown club after winning the 113-entrant €25,000
No-Limit Hold’em High Roller for €745,287, and Dominik Nitsche defeated
132-entrants in the €111,111 High Roller for One Drop, to bank €3,487,463.
Finally,
last year, Michael Addamo topped a field of 133-entrants to win the €848,702
first prize in the €25,500 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller. Martin Kabrhel
vanquished 133 foes to win the €2,624,340 first prize in the €100,000 Super
High Roller.
The lawn looks like a group of moles have held their annual mole manicure convention. The sofa is covered in dirt. My daughter’s toys float amongst the hairs in the dog bowl.
Barbara Woodhouse, I am not.
Crufts is never on this television.
One of the downsides of sharing Airbnb accommodation with strangers, is now and then, they bring an animal into the home, and carnage ensues.
I have a two-year-old daughter who loves dogs. Unfortunately, dogs don’t love two-year-olds. There was a time in our dim and distant past when dogs would have enjoyed the same hierarchial status as the forerunners of humanity. They would have feasted on our harmonicas and used our flesh as icing on their cake.
These days, man is in charge, and the dog knows this, but when a kid walks into the room, the dog sees an opportunity to elevate its status. Watch the way a dog imbues shame as a toddler pets it, pulls it’s ears or shoves a chopstick up its arse.
It’s all about status folks.
Dogs, like us humans, exist to maintain the status quo of our status or to increase it, and this week, the people who live in the top tier of poker’s hierarchy were turning the Bahamas into a dog-eat-dog world.
The partypoker Caribbean Poker Party
It’s going to be a defining few months for partypoker. The Caribbean Poker Party (CPP) moved to the Baha Mar Resort in the Bahamas, and as part of the festivities, they guaranteed $10m in the $25,500 MILLIONS World, and the same quota in the $5,300 Main Event. With the $20m GTD Online MILLIONS around the corner, it’s safe to say that the online giants are taking a shot.
And like a blind man taking a leak, they have missed the mark.
The $25,500 MILLIONS World attracted 394-entrants, and on any other given day, you have to say that’s a monumental achievement, but it fell short of the guarantee by $150,000.
The winner was Roger Teska, a man who spends more time playing rock, paper, scissors that live tournament poker, but squeezed that limited experience into a few halcyon days that netted him $2m after beating Steve O’Dwyer, heads-up.
O’Dwyer was one of three people who banked million dollar scores. It’s been an incredible year for O’Dwyer, who has now earned more than $6m playing live tournaments in 2018, and more than a million in the online realm (where he currently ranks #10 in the PocketFives World Rankings).
The other player to win a million bucks was the regally named Charles La Boissoniere. It’s the first time the Canadian has ever cashed in a $25k, but it’s not the first time he has made a deep run in a partypoker LIVE event after finishing fifth in the MILLIONS North America event for close to half a million dollars back in April.
Here are the final table results:
Final Table Results
1. Roger Teska – $2,000,000
2. Steve O’Dwyer – $1,300,000
3. Charles La Boissoniere – $1,000,000
4. Paul Tedeschi – $700,000
5. Andras Nemeth – $550,000
6. Ben Tollerene – $450,000
7. Rainer Kempe – $350,000
8. Niall Farrell – $300,000
9. Joao Vieira – $250,000
Notable High Rollers who went as deep as stones at the bottom of a pond in this one include Leon Tsoukernik (14th), Isaac Haxton (17th), Nick Petrangelo (23rd), Benjamin Pollak (36th) and Timothy Adams (39th).
Giuseppe Iadisernia Wins The $50,000 High Roller
The named etched into the $50,000 High Roller trophy was another we are not familiar with in high stakes circles.
Giuseppe Iadisernia defeated a stacked field of 54-entrants to take down the $845,000 first prize. The word on the street is the Venezuelan made his money punting on the gee-gees.
Here are the final table results: Final Table Results
1. Giuseppe Iadisernia – $845,000
2. Sean Winter – $550,000
3. Ali Imsirovic – $400,000
4. Talal Shakerchi – $299,000
5. Sorel Mizzi – $225,000
6. Markus Prinz – $175,000
7. Benjamin Pollak – $125,000
Steffen Sontheimer wins the $250k Super High Roller
The biggest buy-in event of the series attracted 34-entrants, and the 2017 Poker Masters winner, Steffen Sontheimer, earned a personal best $3,685,000 score, after beating Sean Winter, heads-up.
Winter added $2,430,000 to the $550,000 he crammed into his piggy bank after losing to Iadisernia in the $50,000, and two of 2018’s biggest high stakes stars, David Peters and Mikita Badziakouski also ended up on the podium. ITM Results
1. Steffen Sontheimer – $3,685,000
2. Sean Winter – $2,430,000
3. David Peters – $1,420,000
4. Mikita Badziakouski – $710,000
Filipe Oliveira wins the Main Event
The $10m GTD Main Event failed to hit the guarantee by $925k, leaving partypoker with more than a million bucks in overlays. Three players earned a million dollars. None of the high roller fraternity sneaked into the running, although these guys deserve a silver star for effort.
Vladimir Troyanovskiy (56th), Brian Hastings (69th), Jason Koon (74th), Chris Kruk (77th), Alex Foxen (82nd), Matt Berkey (90th), Chance Kornuth (109th), Aymon Hata (116th), Ryan Riess (122nd), Sam Soverel (125th), Stephen Chidwick (126th), Lucas Greenwood (142nd), Dzmitry Urbanovich (165th), Samuel Panzica (175th) and Peter Jetten (176th).
Here are the final table results: Final Table Results
1. Filipe Oliveira – $1,500,000
2. Craig Mason – $1,200,000
3. Marc MacDonnell – $1,000,000
4. Pascal Hartmann – $800,000
5. Konstantin Maslak – $600,000
6. Diogo Veiga – $400,000
7. Alex Turyansky – $300,000
8. Joe Kuether – $218,500
Roberto Romanello wins the $10k High Roller
The Main Event may have been a few high rollers shy, but the same cannot be said of the $10k High Roller.
The event attracted 196-entrants, almost doubling the $1m guarantee, and Wales’ All-Time Live Tournament Money Earner, Roberto Romanello, topped a stacked field to bank the $450,000 first prize.
Look at the wizards who made the rostrum in this one. Final Table Results
1. Roberto Romanello – $450,000
2. Mustapha Kanit – $271,200
3. Daniel Dvoress – $210,000
4. Justin Bonomo – $160,000
5. Garik Tamasian – $125,000
6. Guillaume Diaz – $100,000
7. Joao Simao – $80,000
8. Adrian Mateos – $65,000
And these wand waving wonder men and women weren’t far behind.
Benjamin Pollak (9th), Joseph Cheong (11th), Steve O’Dwyer (12th), Orpen Kisacikoglu (15th), Thomas Mülöcker (16th), Lauren Roberts (17th), Mike Watson (18th), Jonathan Duhamel (20th), Isaac Haxton (21st) and Sam Soverel (22nd).
The $1,100 Finale and $1,650 H.O.R.S.E
Two more events to catch up on.
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, Chris Bolek, won the $1,100 Finale and High Rollers who featured prominently in that event were Aymon Hata (5th), Rainer Kempe (8th), David Peters (10th), Fedor Holz (36th),
The WSOP bracelet winner, Joseph Couden, won the H.O.R.S.E, and two players who have each spent considerable time on the high stakes cash game tables of the past, Mike Sexton (2nd) and Bruno Fitoussi (3rd), also made money.
The Best of the Rest
In the summer of 2017, Patrick Leonard won three high rollers, back-to-back in the Bellagio and ARIA for a combined sum of then declared a live tournament hiatus so he could concentrate on his online game, partypoker responsibilities and leadership at bitB Staking.
Leonard fans are in luck.
It seems live tournament poker is on his 2019 schedule, and that will mean more sightings of him at the high stakes tables.
I took almost entire 2018 off of live poker, 2019 is going to be the year of showing up #trophyhunting ..predicting February 7th post standard flip tweet about sticking to online and how it’s so dumb
I remember trying to interview David Peters after he had won the $1.1m first prize in the HKD 500,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Max event at the Triton Poker Series in Jeju.
The man could barely speak.
Intercontinental travel is one of the impediments to success for high rollers, and this week Daniel Negreanu pointed people towards this article from Harvard Business Review as A ‘Fast’ Solution to Jet Lag.
Check it out. https://hbr.org/2009/05/a-fast-solution-to-jet-lag.html
As well as helping people overcome jetlag, Kid Poker is also assisting disadvantaged children. This week the PokerStars ambassador announced plans to host the St. Jude Against All Odds Poker Tournament in March, with all proceeds going towards the St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
If you want to support Daniel, then follow the blue line. https://www.stjude.org/get-involved/find-an-event/dinners-and-galas/against-all-odds.html
Philipp Gruissem is one of the busiest high rollers in the media at the moment. The partypoker ambassador featured in another interview this week, this time spilling the beans on his penchant for rapping (unless they misspelt crapping), his role at partypoker, and much more.
Check it out.
Sorel Mizzi has had a good month. The Canadian high roller who finished third in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event in Montreal finished fifth in the $50,000 Super High Roller at the CPP, popped up on Twitter with a savvy idea for live tournament organisers to turn unused time bank buttons into big blinds to promote faster play.
Idea for @partypoker@partypokerlive live MTTs – in time bank tournaments , unused time bank extensions get turned in for 1BB each before they get replenished. Encourages + incentivizes players to act quick.
What do you think of Sorel’s idea?
And that’s this week’s Pinnacle.
Imagine for a moment that you’re the lord of some castle somewhere. Your billionaire father blew his brains out, leaving you the lot. You can’t tie your shoelace, you love the game of poker, but you’re crap at it.
You decide to find a few horses.
Stallions, that dominate the high stakes.
Who do you choose?
As impatient as a bull waiting for someone to open the door to the china shop, it’s crucial the kid gets off to a good start.
Justin Bonomo is the best shout.
The American has won $25.1m this year.
Mikita Badziakouski, Jason Koon and Alex Foxen are worthy of a text.
But the lad wants a dark horse.
One that the world won’t see coming.
Rewind to the beginning of the year, and you couldn’t get a better pick than Ivan Leow.
The Rise of Ivan Leow
A few weeks ago, Leon Tsoukernik’s mind was whizzing as he saw his waiters and waitresses providing the goods for the players who hang out in the higher echelon of poker’s ecosystem.
The €25,000 & €100,000 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) bracelet events had come and gone, but it was clear there was enough value to set up more games.
With the Triton Poker crowd in the building, Tsoukernik announced the €25,000 & €50,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck Championships, and a €100,000 Super High Roller named LEON’s.
Maybe the €25,000 price tag was a tad too high because only 15-entrants took a punt. Only two people left with a profit, Mikita Badziakouski, who won the thing for €213,750, and Ivan Leow, who banked €142,500.
I have waxed lyrical on Badziakouski’s 2018 accomplishments many times, so it’s time to give the Belarusian the day off. Today, we focus on the astonishing rise of Leow.
Then Malaysian part-time poker player began racking up Hendon Mob dollars in 2015, and by the end of the year, Leow had earned a paltry $5,631. The following year, those four digits hardly moved, with annual earnings of $7,096, and then things changed in 2017, with Leow earning $110,547.
But this year has been different gravy.
Ivan Leow Wins €100k LEON’s High Roller
A few days ago, Leow conquered a field of 33-entrants to win the €1,251,455 first prize in the €100,000 LEON’s High Roller. It is the fifth time that Leow has won a tournament this year, and most of them have been monsters.
1/43 in the HKD 100k No-Limit High Roller in the Oriental Poker Championships for $183,745.
1/44 in the HKD 500k No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck at Triton Jeju for $1,079,367
1/29 in the RUB 6m No-Limit Hold’em Triton Poker Super High Roller at the partypoker MILLIONS Sochi for $1,133,555
1/20 in the KRW 15.5m No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller at the WPT DeepStacks Korea for $118,036
All told, Leow has earned $5,434,307 in 2018, better than all but 11-players in the world, and he now ranks #3 in the Malaysian All-Time Money list where previously he ranked 5,000,000,000,000,000th.
Leow defeated that other dark horse, Martin Kabrhel, in heads-up action. The Czech player has had a marvellous time at the WSOPE and World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) winning two gold rings, a gold bracelet, and more than $3.8m in tournament earnings including the one-two in both €100k events.
Here are the final table results: Final Table Results
1. Ivan Leow – €1,251,455
2. Martin Kabrhel – €773,457
3. Michael Soyza – €521,471
4. Tony G – €351,579
5. Dominik Nitsche – €237,038
The €50,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck Championship was expected to round things off on Wednesday 31 October, but it seems the event didn’t run.
Maybe the players knew, that had it run, Leow would have likely won it.
With a viewership of 2 billion people, the Olympics is the third most-watched sporting event on the box behind the FIFA World Cup (3.5 billion) and the Tour de France (2.6 billion).
But the Olympic movement has a problem.
Despite close to a third of the population expressing an interest in the event, data gathered by Nielsen shows that the median age of viewers has risen from 45 in 2000 to 53 in 2016, and folk aged between 18 & 34 had dropped by 30%.
The Olympics need new blood, and that’s good news for poker, with the International Olympics Committee (IOC) crazy enough to take a look at events like rolled up sock football, kerby, and hide and seek.
Poker and The Olympics?
The likelihood you will see a form of poker in the Olympics by the time a mortician is stuffing your eyeballs back into your socket to make you presentable for your open coffin hoorah is quite high, but it won’t be the poker you want to see.
Back in November 2017, several media sources went to print that the IOC recognised Esports as a potential Olympic sport and that it would be on the list of full medal events at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, but it seems that the idea is now in the garbage can, after the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) took it off the menu because Esports don’t have a unified international federation.
Poker does, but not in the No-Limit Hold’em, Fedor Holz, World Series of Poker sense of things.
The only recognised international federation in poker is the International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP). Born in 2009, those behind the alliance have done everything in their power to make Match Poker (a form of poker played live on electric devices where everyone has the same hand) an Olympic sport. Last winter The Global Associaton of International Sports Federations (GAISF) handed Match Poker ‘Observer Status’, meaning the game is one step closer to becoming a bona fide Olympic sport.
But does anyone care?
Does Anyone Care That Poker Could Become an Olympic Sport
Last week, Rahul Sood, CEO of the Esports sports-betting outfit, Unikrn, had some interesting thoughts on the Olympics. It seems clear to me that Esports is likelier to beat poker to the honour of becoming an Olympic sport, and when it does, the likelihood that poker follows suit increases, so what Sood has to say is worth a listen.
By Rsvdhd (talk) – self-made, CC BY 3.0, Link
Sood told Reuters in an email interview that he believes the IOC needs Esports more than Esports needs the IOC.
“It’s extremely unlikely top athletes would choose the Olympics over top esports events, said Sood before continuing. “It’s misguided, or egotistical, of mainstream culture to think the Olympics are somehow a greater honor than The International, Worlds or a CS:GO (Counterstrike) major.
“Esports athletes haven’t been playing for years, sometimes over a decade, putting everything into a grind to win a gold medal. They’ve been doing it to win the top title in their game.”
Sood makes some good points, but the weak link in his argument is a lack of input from the players themselves. It got me thinking about poker players. If poker was successful in its bid to become an Olympic sport (and Fedor Holz, Alex Foxen, and the likes can play Match Poker), and let’s say hypothetically, the games clashed with the WSOP (they wouldn’t), would a high stakes poker player choose to win a gold bracelet or a gold medal?
Partypoker ambassador, Philipp Gruissem, is more than just a high stakes poker player. The German star is an effective altruist, meaning he plays poker to earn money to reduce suffering in the world, and yet, Gruissem would still choose the Olympics over the WSOP.
“I would choose the Olympics,” said Gruissem. “There is so much energy and intensity in Olympic competitions. I would love to experience that…we love the intensity of high stakes poker, but the Olympics is one of the few things that provide more intensity.”
Gruissem isn’t the only German high stakes star who would choose the Olympics. The 2017 Poker Masters winner, Steffen Sontheimer, said, “It’s not even close.”
“The WSOP has no special meaning for me,” said Sontheimer. “It’s “just” a pure EV-calculation. The Olympics are one of the biggest things for me. To participate and to spend two weeks with all the other great people would mean the world to me.”
What about the other nations around the world, do they share the same view as the Germans.
It seems they do.
Sergio Aido has won close to $8.3m playing high stakes live events, and the Spaniard said:
“I would love poker to be an Olympic sport, and I think that would be very positive for The game. My main motivation in poker is money, but this would be a clear special case.”
Bryn Kenney has a WSOP bracelet amongst his many trinkets and trophies, so would he exchange that feeling for the chance of Olympic gold?
“Yes I would because I’m all about the glory and being the best at what I do. I never thought about the money; just the love of the game and competition.”
And the Brits?
After spending 25-consecutive weeks at the top of the Global Poker Index (GPI), amassing close to $19m on live tournament earnings, and winning the US Poker Open, Stephen Chidwick, is still missing a WSOP bracelet, but that wouldn’t stop him skipping the event to compete in the Olympics.
“There are like 80 chances a year to win a WSOP gold bracelet and only one chance every four years to win an Olympic medal,” said Chidwick. “Also, having the chance to meet elite performers in all kinds of different fields would be really fun…and likely in a nicer location than the Rio.”
Even the part-timers seem to agree.
“I would choose the Olympics if I thought I had any chance of a medal,” said the CEO of Meditor Capital Management, and avid poker fan, Talal Shakerchi. “I guess I see that as more of an achievement.”
And sometimes, just sometimes, competing in the Olympics isn’t only about the medal.
“I’d definately skip the WSOP for the Olympics if only to put “Olympic athlete” in my Twitter bio,” said the Triple Crown winner, Niall Farrell.
It seems the answer is unanimous.
If the Olympics clashed with the WSOP, then the games’ elite would choose medals over bracelets.
How about you?
What would you choose?
I could be 20-miles away, stealing apples, and I would hear my mother calling me from our doorstep.
There were no mobile phones.
The spectre of Peter Sutcliffe still hung in the Northern air, and although he didn’t kill children, you would have thought we would have been closer to the bosom.
Nope.
Off we went, gallivanting around town playing kiss-chase, spin the bottle, and stealing fruit from an angry man’s backyard.
One place I loved was the library. I fell in love with Asterisk and Obelisk, and later Herge’s Adventures of Tintin. Then one day, I found a book called Deathtrap Dungeon by Ian Livingstone.
It was one of the earliest choose your own adventure books. Become a wizard, dwarf or elf; roll dice to determine your magical powers, and then battle with all manner of mythical creatures with the aim of ending as the hero.
I went through the lot – The Citadel of Chaos, The Forest of Doom and The Firetop Mountain Series.
Mundane life had me on a leash, and I was tugging like a maniac. I was desperate to avoid the clocking in and out life. I wanted to be a millionaire like Del Boy. I wanted any experience, other than the one I was stuck inside.
I wonder if Ben Yu believes he is the hero of his choose your own adventure. Yu is not a name usually associated with the high roller community, but all that may change after what has been a quite stunning World Series of Poker (WSOP).
Yu plays Magic The Gathering competitively, so I am sure had he been as old as me, he too would have found the allure of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone to compelling to ignore.
And here he is, creating a page-turner.
And a few pages ago, Yu was faced with this question:
“Should I play in the $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller? If you decide to turn the opportunity down, turn to page 68. If you invest your well-earned gold, then turn to page 69.”
The young wizard turned to Page 69.
Let’s see what happened next?
The Young Wizard Takes on the Bad Asses of the High Roller NLHE Scene
When Yu sat down to play in the highest stakes No-Limit Hold’em competition of his career, the poker universe’s top Warlocks, Elves and the occasional greedy Dwarf surrounded him.
128 of them, to be precise.
The narrative allowed for 14 levels.
31 players survived.
Ten of them owned at least one gold bracelet.
The Austrian pro, Matthias Eibinger, led the way with 2,120,000 chips. Jake Schindler joined him above the two million mark.
The $100k High Roller winner Nick Petrangelo finished with 1,500,000. Elio Fox, the man who finished runner-up to Petrangelo in that event, bagged up 1,875,000. The man who dominated the recent Triton Poker Series in Montenegro, Jason Koon, ended with 1,450,000 chips, and Yu managed to stuff 1,500,000 into a clear plastic bag.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Matthias Eibinger – 2,120,000
Jake Schindler – 2,050,000
Isaac Haxton – 1,955,000
Elio Fox – 1,875,000
Daniel Merrilees – 1,865,000
Juan Pardo Dominguez – 1,650,000
Stefan Schillhabel – 1,570,000
Nick Petrangelo – 1,500,000
Ben Yu – 1,500,000
Jason Koon – 1,450,000
Day 2: Winter’s Coming; Yu Meets it Head-On
With blinds at 20k/40k, the action fell to Ben Yu in the small blind. He looked across at the dangerous, but short-stacked, Nick Petrangelo in the big blind, before moving all-in holding J2o. Petrangelo looked down at 88, called, and doubled to 2m. Yu stumbled to 1.6m.
One level later, and an important moment for Yu.
John Andress moved all-in from midfield, Daniel Merrilees moved all-in from late position, and Yu, who had both beasts covered, made the call from the big blind.
Yu: KK
Merrilees: AQ
Andress: 55
Andress flopped a gut-shot, but Yu faded any potential turn or river booby trap to move up to 2,950,000.
With blinds at 30k/60k, Yu cast a spell on the in-form Chris Hunichen to send him to the rail drawing three streets of value on QT468 holding KQ with Big Huni holding AT. Yu moved up to 5.5m, good enough for the chip lead.
It’s always nice to peer down and see the rockets, and that’s what happened with blinds at 40k/80k. Yu had them. The former champion Ryan Riess had pocket eights, and the pair went for it. Yu rivered the third ace for good measure and moved up to 6.2m; Riess’s tournament was left in pieces.
Yu’s next victim was Jason Koon.
Yu put Koon all-in on a board of 6d6h7d3dKd after rivering a flush holding Qd9h, and Koon reluctantly called with As6c for a flopped set of sixes. And then we had the final table after Yu eliminated Ben Pollak in a blind on blind battle holding J5o v 88. Another flush hit on the river to hand Yu another scalp. The Poker Gods were treating Yu like Zeus and co once treated Perseus.
Final Table
Ben Yu – 7,700,000
Nick Petrangelo – 5,100,000
Manig Loeser – 3,650,000
Igor Kurganov – 3,400,000
Jake Schindler – 3,400,000
Elio Fox – 3,025,000
Sean Winter – 2,850,000
John Racener – 2,340,000
Isaac Haxton – 1,200,000
Elio Fox was the first player to hit the rail when his pocket sixes bumped into the electrified fence of Sean Winter’s pocket jacks. Jake Schindler followed Fox to the door marked ‘exit’ when his A5o failed to beat the lowly looking 43c after Haxton flopped a pair.
And Haxton hadn’t finished swinging his fists.
The next player to feel his wrath was John Racener after he moved all-in holding KJo, and Haxton called with A3s, and once again turned a killer trey. We were down to six.
If there were a High Roller Breakout Award, it would surely go to Manig Loeser, and the German had another phenomenal run finishing sixth after his AK failed to beat the pocket treys of Winter in another sprint to the finishing line.
Winter then emerged as Yu’s primary threat when he eliminated Igor Kurganov. It was another race, this time pocket sixes dodging every ace and queen in the deck to send the Raising For Effective Giving (REG) founder to the rail.
Nick Petrangelo came into a league of his own, winning pot after pot to create a substantial chip lead. The $100k champ was running away with it, and then Yu eliminated Haxton AQ>A7 to bring him neck and neck with Petrangelo, with Winter looking up at them from the bottom of the cliff face,
Petrangelo – 13,100,000
Yu – 12,100,000
Winter – 6,900,000
Winter doubled through Petrangelo A5>T7s before putting in a string of consecutive winning hands to take a substantial lead. Yu slowed him down, doubling-up 99>A8, and then made the chip lead going into heads-up after sending Petrangelo home in third 44>ATo. Heads-Up: Short and Sweet
Yu – 18,275,000
Winter – 13,725,000
And to the final battle.`
Yu v Winter.
Inexperienced high stakes No-Limit Hold’em combatant versus one of the most experienced.
Yu didn’t want this to turn into a battle.
It didn’t.
It was all over before you could type YU.
Winter limped into the pot from the small blind holding A9o. Yu moved all-in holding KQo; Winter called. The J73r flop was clean for Winter, but the Kh on the turn put Yu one card away from victory. The 6d finished the action and Yu was the only wizard left with chips.
So what would Yu’s next choose your own adventure be?
The One Drop? “I think that’s too much for me,” Yu told PokerNews after his win. “I don’t think I’m one of the top 10 or maybe even 20 players in this hundred person field.”
It seems Yu also has a high humility score.
Yu first registered a live tournament ITM finish back in 2008 when he placed 69th in a $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout at the WSOP. It wasn’t until 2014 that Yu began competing in the $10k Championship events with increasing regularity, but 2018 has been a breakout year for the rising star.
In January, Yu finished 10/75 in the $25,500 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Lucky Hearts Poker Open for $56,250. Then, during the WSOP, Yu finished runner-up to Shaun Deeb in the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller for $866,924 – a career high until his $50,000 performance.
Yu has won $5,250,029 playing live tournaments, with close to $3m of that bounty earned this year.
He has cashed 15 times at the WSOP, made four final tables, won a bracelet, and has earned more than $2.8m, thrusting him into the business end of the WSOP Player of the Year race, where he is on the trail of his old nemesis, Shaun Deeb.
Here is that up to date leaderboard.
Shaun Deeb – 4,386,84
Ben Yu – 3,746.04
John Hennigan – 3,552.69
Scott Bohlman – 3,155.88
Paul Volpe – 2,859.76
After Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi won an unprecedented third Poker Player’s Championship (PPC) back in June, the man who finished third in 2015, David Baker, sent his annual tweet to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) giving them advice on how to spruce up the event after only 87 people produced $50,000 worth of goods.
I’ve made this suggestion almost every yr. if @WSOP wants to make 50k PPC as special as it should be. Special start time, blocked off sections, food brought in, some incentive to start on time with a nice kickoff.
“I’ve made this suggestion almost every year. If @WSOP wants to make 50k PPC as special as it should be. Special start time, blocked off sections, food brought in, some incentive to start on time with a nice kickoff.” Tweeted Baker.
Following up on Baker’s tweet, PocketFives’ Lance Bradley, penned a piece on his home platform titled: 5 THINGS: The Poker Players Championship Deserves More Celebration, suggesting five actions the WSOP could take, to diminish the annual moan and groan from Baker.
Here is the article – https://www.pocketfives.com/articles/5-things-the-poker-players-championship-deserves-more-celebration-619630/
If you can’t be bothered reading it, here are the bullet points.
Use the PPC Champs as part of the Main Event Opening Ceremony.
Make the event more viewable for live attendees.
Change the table felt.
Improve the live streaming.
Find a sponsor.
While these improvements could make the participants feel ‘special’ I doubt any of them will contribute to a significant increase in numbers.
High Rollers like to feel special, that’s a given. However, what makes any $25k+ event a ‘must play’game, is the addition of players whom the elite feel they have the edge over.
Before the WSOP bows down to Bradley and starts pimping up the PPC, may I suggest they figure out how to attract weaker players who are likely to flick in $50,000 in the same nonchalant way a pro approaches THE COLOSSUS. And It’s Not Easy
Since the most iconic poker brand in the world cut a deal to partner with Leon Tsoukernik to host World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) and World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) events at his gaff back in Rozvadov, the job of hosting high stakes tournaments seems to have fallen to the Czech entrepreneur.
Before a single card hit the muck in anger at this year’s festival, the WSOP released an ambitious schedule to host $25k and $50k High Roller events (Both NLHE & PLO) in the Rio-based King’s Lounge.
The events were supposed to run each weekend from June 1 to July 8, and unless I am mistaken, not a single one has taken place.
Why?
I reached out to a well-known figure in the high stakes community, who prefers to remain anonymous, who told me that none of the games have run because there are no recreational players.
“There is no incentive for the pros to start them. The rake is absurdly high, and they can’t run without Leon. He either needs to play or bring his friends, or they don’t run.” Said my source.
And it’s not only the King’s Lounge that has had difficulty finding people to take a seat in a big live tournament this summer. The ARIA has also suffered.
Here are the results for the most recent ARIA High Rollers: Monday 11 June – $25k NLHE
30 entrants
Adrian Mateos – $253,240
Ben Tollerene – $241,760
Cary Katz – $120,000
Rainer Kempe – $75,000
David Peters – $60,000
Tuesday 12 June – $25k NLHE
18 entrants
Nick Petrangelo – $243,000
Byron Kaverman – $135,000
Rainer Kempe – $72,000
Thursday 14 June – $25k 8-Game High Roller
30 entrants
Philip Sternheimer – $275,000
Elior Sion – $220,000
Isaac Haxton – $120,000
Alexander Kostritsyn – $75,000
Luke Schwartz – $60,000
Monday 18 June – $25k NLHE
23 entrants
Ben Tollerene – $264,500
Sergio Aido – $161,000
Cary Katz $92,000
Igor Kurganov – $57,500
Sunday 24 June – $25k NLHE
14 entrants
Nick Petrangelo – $245,000
Cary Katz – $105,000
Two wins for Petrangelo and three ITM finishes from Katz the standout stories in what is otherwise a damp squid of a narrative.
Catz’ success moves him on par with Jake Schindler as the most prolific ITM finisher in ARIA High Roller event history.
Here are the top five.
Jake Schindler – 41
Cary Katz – 41
Tom Marchese – 27
David Peters – 24
Sam Soverel – 19
Bryn Kenney – 19
The Answer?
I agree with both Baker and Bradley that the $50k PPC is a special event.
If the WSOP want to increase the numbers, as well as the prestige and specialness, then they need to leverage their relationship with Tsoukernik or network with other people within the poker community that have the clout to pull in a handful of wealthy amateurs.
If this happened, and word spread, then you would see more people priming the pump ready to compete in the $50,000 PPC, and who knows, this could also include strict NLHE players willing to learn Mixed Games because the value in the PPC is so good.
We can frame poker’s pride and hang it on the wall.
The bitch is back.
The propeller is whirring noisily.
It’s time to take off.
The 49th Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) has been a spectacular success. Hoards of people have managed to evade sexist mobile phone sellers on their way to millions of dollars in prize money, and more bad beats than The Handmaids Tale.
And it’s not ended yet.
For the first time in history, the organisers moved the $10,000 WSOP Main Event forward. It’s a sound move that gives those who fall out of that competition a reason to live and provides the $1m Big One for One Drop with the Rolling Stones like presence it deserves.
And it was a humdinger.
7,874 entrants created a prize pool of $74,015,600, making it the second-largest WSOP Main Event in history behind the incredible Internet-driven Jamie Gold win in 2006.
The winner will pick up $8.8m.
Each final table member earns $1m minimum.
But we have a long way to go before we can talk about a winner.
Until then, I want to get you up to speed on bracelet wins for three men who each have a role to play in our high stakes economy.
We will begin with a legend of the online high stakes world, and a man often touted as the next Daniel Negreanu, when it comes to the perfect ambassador for poker.
Phil Galfond Wins Event #60: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Championship.
Phil Galfond won his third career bracelet after beating 237 players in a format of poker he has never played online, and has only played during mixed game action in the live realm.
Speaking to PokerNews after his win, Galfond said, “I was figuring it out as I went.”
A man who has earned close to $11m playing cards at the highest stakes in the business is apt to do that.
Galfond rose to prominence in the game as one of the most fearsome competitors in online cash games earning a $6.6m profit playing cash games under the handle OMGClayAiken on Full Tilt. He is also up $1.4m profit competing as MrSweets28 on PokerStars.
Not only is Galfond one of the best high stakes online poker players in the world, but he is also one of the most excellent coaches. After building an impressive reputation on BlueFirePoker, Galfond created RunItOnce (RIO), an online training site providing top quality coaching for the best players in the world. He is also in the midst of creating RIO Poker, an online poker room, due for release this summer.
You won’t see Galfond playing many live tournaments, preferring to compete in the more lucrative cash games. He has only cashed in three events that carry a buy-in of $25k+ or more.
Back in 2008, he finished 70/545 in the $25,500 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship banking $39,570. In 2011, he got his money back in the $25,000 buy-in NBC National Heads-Up Championship with a min-cash. In 2013, he finished runner-up to Steve Sung in the $25,000 High Roller at the WSOP for $744,841, in what remains his most significant live score to date.
He has won three career titles, and all of them ended up with a bracelet. In 2008, he defeated 152 entrants to win the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha for $817,781. Galfond’s second piece of gold came in 2015 when he beat 77 entrants in the $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball No-Limit Championship for $224,383.
He has won $2.9m playing live. Final Table Results
Phil Galfond – $567,788
Michael McKenna – $350,922
Ali Abduljabbar – $240,497
Chad Power – $168,275
Chris Lee – $120,263
Marco Johnson – $87,830
David “ODB” Baker – $65,579
Chase Steely – $50,086
Chance Kornuth Wins Event #63: $3,200 WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em High Roller.
Things will get very interesting indeed when more states allow fully regulated and licensed online poker. This year, the WSOP hosted a record four online events, with the High Roller buy-in set at $3,200.
How long before that’s $10,000?
$25,000?
$50,000?
$1m?
It will come.
In the meantime, a legitimate High Roller won the second iteration of the $3,200 Online High Roller.
Chance Kornuth defeated a 480 entrants (356 unique and 124 rebuys) field, 56 more entrants than this time last year when the former November Niner Thomas Cannuli took the title.
It was Kornuth’s sixth cash of the series, and to date, he has cashed in six events carrying a $25k+ buy-in
In 2016, he defeated 122 entrants to take the AUD 790,560 (USD 547,874) first prize by winning the AUD 25,000 (USD 19,000) Challenge at the Aussie Millions.
The following month, Kornuth finished runner-up to Mustapha Kanit in the 58 entrant field €25,750 European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event in Dublin earning €360,150.
In July of that year, he finished eighth in a 63 entrant $25,000 buy-in ARIA High Roller for $60,480. In October 2016, he won a 19-entrant $25,000 High Roller at the World Poker Tour (WPT) best bet Bounty Scramble for $186,672.
There was only one score in 2017 as Kornuth finished seventh in a 117 entrant $25,500 High Roller at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) for $93,600.
His latest HR score came in the CAD 25,500 (USD 19,000) buy-in High Roller at the partypoker MILLIONS North America Festival earning CAD 125,000 (USD 97,863).
Kornuth’s lifetime earnings exceed $5.9m.
His most significant score to date is $641,140 for finishing third in the 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event.
He has won two WSOP bracelets, his first coming in 2010 when he beat 460 entrants to take down a $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) event for $508,090.
Final Table Results
Chance ‘BingShui’ Kornuth – $341,598
David ‘bewater’ Goodman – $212,021
Timothy ‘poker.’ Nuter – $144,168
Noah ‘ ThePunter’ Bronstein – $99,809
Frank ‘flcrivello’ Crivello – $70,625
Taylor ‘ReadyGambo’ Black – $50,926
Justin ‘kingfortune’ Liberto – $37,355
Jonas ‘LobyPewis’ Mackoff – $28,016
Pete ‘petechen’ Chen – $21,596
Jean-Robert Bellande Wins Event #58: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed
Jean-Robert Bellande is an integral part of the High Stakes live cash game scene. I like to think of him as a ‘gateway drug’ for the biggest games in the world – a bridge from mid to high stakes cash game action.
Talking to him in Montenegro, during the Triton Poker Festival, where he was organising and competing in high stakes live cash games, Bellande spoke humbly of his abilities, particularly in No-Limit Hold’em.
Bellande is a mixed game man.
So it was a shock to him and me both when he beat 621 players in a highly competitive $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em to win the first bracelet of his career, all the while sipping on a $400 bottle of plonk.
It was a sweet moment for one of the most loved men in the game. In 2008, he finished runner-up to Matt Graham in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout for $173,564. In June 2015, he finished runner-up to Mike Gorodinsky in the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship for $784,828, his most significant score to date.
He finished 12/87 in this year’s $50k for $88,627. Final Table Results
Jean-Robert Bellande – $616,302
Dean Lyall – $380,595
Andrew Graham – $254,684
Tan Nguyen – $173,598
Eric Blair – $120,669
Kacper Pyzara – $85,570
The next big WSOP High Roller is the $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em schedule for July 13th. The WSOP experience ends with the $1m buy-in Big One for One Drop on July 15th.
